Philosophers Know Nothing About Love

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Light the torch and explore the depths of Alison Lubar’s debut chapbook, Philosophers Know Nothing About Love. This collection uses Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ as a meta-allegory for love, and in particular, what happens when two lay-philosophers collide mid-life. It’s not as pretentious as it might sound—these poems are grounded in a visit to a museum and more whiskey and figs than anyone could wish for.

“You will leave this afternoon and at dawn. I dream

you closed the door for the last time, but you return

with coffee and know I drink mine dark like last night:

the currency of self in sangrias, sacred balcony,

and sky like an ocean storm.”

45pp.

Cover art & design by Marc Moore

Light the torch and explore the depths of Alison Lubar’s debut chapbook, Philosophers Know Nothing About Love. This collection uses Plato’s ‘Allegory of the Cave’ as a meta-allegory for love, and in particular, what happens when two lay-philosophers collide mid-life. It’s not as pretentious as it might sound—these poems are grounded in a visit to a museum and more whiskey and figs than anyone could wish for.

“You will leave this afternoon and at dawn. I dream

you closed the door for the last time, but you return

with coffee and know I drink mine dark like last night:

the currency of self in sangrias, sacred balcony,

and sky like an ocean storm.”

45pp.

Cover art & design by Marc Moore

About the Author

Alison Lubar teaches high school English by day and yoga by night. They are a queer, nonbinary, mixed-race femme whose life work has evolved into bringing mindfulness practices to young people.  Their work has been nominated for the Pushcart & BotN, and they’re the author of four chapbooks: Philosophers Know Nothing About Love (Thirty West Publishing House, 2022), queer feast (Bottlecap Press, 2022), sweet euphemism (CLASH!, 2023), and It Skips a Generation (Stanchion, 2023). Their first full-length poetry collection, METAMOURPHOSIS, is forthcoming with fifth wheel press in October 2024. Find out more at http://www.alisonlubar.com/ or on Twitter @theoriginalison

Reviews

Reviews

“Alison Lubar's debut glitters with sensuality. It feels like a journey toward the knowledge of love, how to both grasp and savor it. Philosophers Know Nothing About Love contains gorgeous poems reflecting on philosophy, the body, and desire. Each piece drips decadence and transcendence. I want to slip into something silky, uncork a bottle of wine, light a candle, and indulge in this chapbook all over again.”

—Christina Rosso, Author of Creole Conjure

“Alison Lubar's Philosophers Know Nothing About Love is instantly recognizable as a triumph of language and the imagination. Its dreaminess, melodic charm, and entrancing sensual imagery have the extraordinary effect of slowing or halting time itself. What then emerges from each poem are these glimpses into a higher reality, the uncanny "sublime" beyond all mortal comprehension, gorgeously rendered to the page. Enchanting, otherworldy, intimate, and enthralling, Lubar's debut is beyond what we call a stroke of brilliance; rather, it is a reflection of a doubtless talent, sure to sweep away their readers time and time again.⁠”

—Jonathan Koven, author of Palm Lines and Below Torrential Hill

“Lubar writes for mouthfeel. I want a second helping. I want to roll these poems around my cheeks. It’s the kind of book (and writer) I’d like to invite out for a drink.”

—Steph Castor, author of Keep Her In Your Mouth and Bedroom Music

“Built on the framework of Plato's allegory of the cave, Alison Lubar's chapbook, Philosophers Know Nothing About Love, explorers desire in liminal spaces. Their collection of embodied queer love poetry, with its "chorus in capillaries," also works as literary theory. Plato is an interesting choice for a poet because he wasn't a fan. For Plato, poetry incites passions at the expense of reason. Lubar's poems seem to respond, "bring it on!" The poems take us to hotel lobbies, escalators, and gift shops: places where we have lost our sense of direction, places that might challenge our assumptions about ourselves and how we know the world. Put these poems in your mouth and bite down on the living oyster.”

—Amy Beth Sisson, MFA Candidate at Rutgers University